Goodbye Baby Food, Hello Meat and Potatoes
by shawn-n-belle
Summary: A four month old with excessive drooling, irritability, a slight fever, refusal to eat and sleeping troubles can only mean one thing: teething hell. An exhausted Arizona and a worrisome Callie are in for a long night.


Goodbye Baby Food, Hello Meat and Potatoes

Summary: A four month old with excessive drooling, irritability, a slight fever, refusal to eat and sleeping troubles can only mean one thing: teething hell. An exhausted Arizona and a worrisome Callie are in for a long night.

Pairing: Callie/Arizona/Nesiah

Rated: PG-13

Spoilers: Season 7 storylines _just_ to be safe.

Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings and events thereof, are properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.

Author's Note: Fluff is fluffy! :)

* * *

If there is one thing that Arizona Robbins hates most in the world, it is long shifts. Long shifts in the Operating Room with her hands deep inside a child's body cavity trying to save them from a losing war. Long shifts with Alex Karev as he grumbles in annoyance at the children and their unbelievable naivety and ability to whine excessively. Long shifts trying to explain to the interns that kids believe in magic and that it is fairy dust in their IV bags instead of the actual medicine. Long shifts wear her down more than ever before now, leaving her not only physically but emotionally exhausted and tired and ready to sleep for three days straight. And she would, oh, how she would, _except_, she has a wife and a baby who need her preferably conscious; a wife and a baby who make these long nights, like tonight, just a little more bearable.

She swears that it takes longer than usual to get to their two story home in the inner city of Seattle, Washington. The blinding lights of the city seem to stretch on forever in front of her as she rounds the curves of familiarity and passes the house of her neighbors. Yawning desperately, she struggles to wipe the sleep from her eyes and continue on her journey, only a few more minutes, she sighs. Just a _few_ more minutes.

She can't remember the last time she got a full night's sleep, between caring for their infant daughter and attending to Callie and being the only Peds attending at the hospital, she only sleeps when she catches a minute here and there. And now, she is feeling the full effects of it. The aches of her body in every muscle, every curve, the grogginess that now washes over her petite body in waves, and the fact that her eyes are so desperate to close, even when she is traveling down the highway in her brand new Impala with the air conditioning blasting and the radio pumping out some stupid song that she hates.

She needs sleep.

But more importantly, she needs Calliope and Nesiah.

She needs love and comfort and understanding, she needs safety, she needs to know that there is more purpose in the world than fighting a losing battle with medicine and threatening to hit interns in the face with bricks and shrugging off comments from Miranda Bailey. She wants to hold Nesiah in her arms, to see those big deep brown eyes look up at her in the utmost innocence and feel like nothing else in the world matters. She wants Callie to pull her into a long kiss, she wants to taste her, feel her love as she holds her in her arms, protecting her from the world and all the things that haunt her. She wants to finally be at _rest_.

Pulling into her driveway, she can barely keep her eyes open as another pop song blasts from her speakers and she cringes inwardly. She hates pop music, the short haired guys trying to sound like a choir boy or a gangster, and the half dressed females who try to serenade their way into her heart by singing about bad romance. She hates it even more so now that it is the one thing that keeps her from the precious sleep that has been calling her name since she pulled out of the parking lot of Seattle Grace-Mercy West.

As she jingles with the keys in her pocket, her tired blue eyes drift upward to find the small light flickering in her bedroom and the warm and ever so soft smile plays upon her lips. At one point she never thought they would have been here, that Calliope would learn to forgive and that she would learn to accept things for the way they are. At one point, she thought she would lose her completely, forever, that somehow their love would be tossed aside like a faded dream. Yet, somehow through all of their ups and downs, through the fights and flights, through the tears and the make ups, they had made it. Experienced the loveliest wedding that brought both religious untouchable Carlos Torres and tough guy Colonel Robbins to tears and are now parents to the most beautiful little girl that any one could ever ask for.

She stands in the bathroom where she dresses herself in her long black night shirt, well, she smirks playfully, technically it was _Callie's_ long black shirt, but they have been sharing more things than usual lately. She can count the lines on her face now, ridden with troublesome thoughts and worries about her own child and many others that are fighting for their life now. She wonders if Callie misses it, if she misses the perk and the smiles and the dimples or if it is her own criticism that brings her down now. She feels old, but she's heard that having a child can do that do you, she smirks.

Tossing her hair up in a loose pony tail, Arizona lets out a sigh, deciding that like usual this is probably as good as things are going to get. Exhaustion, worriment and annoyance all really kill her perky, bubbly look, she groans as a suppressed yawn escapes from her lips. Instead of leaving herself to worry about it any longer, however, she flicks the light off and heads to their bedroom. Staggering only sleepily, she pushes the door open to reveal the beige painted room with Callie sitting on their large bed, a novel opened in front of her, her reading glasses perched upon her nose.

And her heart instantly swoons.

Six years and a baby later, Calliope Torres still takes her breath away.

Standing in the doorway smiling, Arizona can feel the familiar warmth that flutters in the pit of her stomach, like a thousand butterflies flying all at once. A part of her wonders how it happened, how she did something so wonderful, something so amazing to deserve someone like Calliope in her life. Shrugging away the familiarity of the moment, she saunters across the room in quiet shuffles of her bare feet against the icy cold floor and climbs, still unnoticed, into her largely inviting bed. Callie, however, pays no attention to the beautiful blond next to her and turns the page with a careful lick of her thumb. Rolling her eyes playfully, Arizona leans over and places a chaste kiss upon Callie's cheek but it is to no avail as the raven haired beauty continues to read the novel in her hands.

"Fine._ Fine_. Pay no attention to your _beautiful_ wife who has just came home from a long shift and has crawled into bed with you with nothing on but your t-shirt and she has painfully missed you all day. She's here now, tired and very easily taken advantage of. But go ahead, keep reading your book, I'm sure it is more interesting than I am," Arizona whines in a huff, crossing her arms over her chest as she pouts, slipping down further into their bed. But in response this only receives a quiet hum from Callie who once again flips with page with her slightly damp thumb.

"Seriously, Calliope?" Arizona groans in annoyance, glaring at her wife in the utmost shock as she shifts further down in the bed. The raven haired woman glances over her shoulder at the gorgeous pouting blond beside of her with a playful smile, rolling her eyes as she continues to read.

"Oh my God, I cannot believe you! I should have just stayed at the hospital! Let that over confident, flaunting intern continue to flirt with me poorly in hopes of getting in on one of my kick ass and super important surgeries. At least someone appreciates me and my hotness!" Arizona wails, shaking her head dramatically as she attempts to slide down under the covers. However, she is stopped by Callie's large body pinning hers against the backboard, her lips colliding with hers.

"Someone is quite the dramatist tonight," Callie mummers against her lips as she curls against her, the half open book resting absently upon the chestnut night stand. Arizona smiles with a confident giggle, raking her fingers continuously through the raven black curls as she breathes in her intoxicating scent that forever dances inside of her nostrils, not that she is complaining.

"I had to do something to get your attention. Your nose was so deep in that book, I thought you might literally inhale the words off the page," Arizona giggles with a toss of her hair, placing another playful kiss against her wife's now smiling lips, "besides, I have just finished a seventeen hour shift and I really miss my beautiful, kind, sexy wife." She mumbles into another kiss.

"It is not just any book, okay? It is James Patterson's Tick Tock. And _every one_ knows that you don't just put down a Patterson because your wife walks into the room. We have already discovered Michael and his ten adopted kids and.. and his love interest and he is trying to save the day while keeping his family safe and it really makes you wonder where you draw the line at professionalism and realism with your family and I.." However, Arizona does not let her finish when her lips collide heavily with hers again.

"Maybe you didn't hear me, I _missed_ you," Arizona states between kisses as she tangles her fingers in Callie's raven curls, tugging only hard enough to receive a reaction from the beauty. Callie moans that husky, throaty moan against those familiar upturned lips as she climbs into her lap, her body hovering above hers.

"Yeah? Well, I think there is something I can do that might make you miss me a little less," Callie whispers, her fingertips tracing down the curvature of Arizona's neck, loosely playing with a curl before settling, perhaps only momentarily, upon her clavicle. The blond purrs against her lips, her legs slipping over her waist to further settle her against her body with a contemplative and deceptive smirk.

"Oh yeah? Care to tell me what that is, Mrs. Torres-Robbins?" Arizona smiles, her lips finding her way to hers once again in another teasing kiss. Callie nods, allowing her fingers to brush further down the blonde's petite body, dipping in the places beneath her breasts and pushing delicately into the spaces of her ribs.

"I think I can show you better than I can tell you," Callie mumbles a reply, her bottom lip slipping noticeably under Arizona's tongue.

"I think I am going to like this plan," Arizona replies between kisses as the Latina's fingers begin to slip under the hem of the dark shirt. She has missed this, she thinks silently with a smirk, the kisses, the touching, the smile. She has not had much time with Calliope lately, at least, much _alone_ time and now that the moment is here, her libido is through the roof. It is more than just sex; it has always been so much more.

She is mid kiss, however, with her hands bundled underneath her wife's shirt when a loud and excruciating wail echoes from the white baby monitor on the nightstand beside of them. Instantly, all movement ceases and the sounds fall to silence except for the continuous crying on the monitor. Callie shifts, attempting to raise herself up from the petite beauty but Arizona's legs stay locked around her waist, pulling her into another kiss.

"She'll be fine," Arizona states, stealing another kiss; Callie smiles against those familiar lips before she pulls away, her raven curls framing her delicate face. Staring up at her with her glistening icy blue eyes, Arizona smiles that dimpling grin, her fingers softly tracing her jaw line.

"She is crying, that means something is wrong," Callie sighs, shifting once again to get up but Arizona's legs stay locked in place.

"It is not a hungry cry or a diaper changing cry; it is an attention seeking cry. And while I love Nesiah, and you know that I do, there is someone else who needs a little bit of attention right now," Arizona pouts, raking her nails up and down Callie's arched spine. The Latina retreats only for a moment, placing her lips against hers in a loving kiss, smiling into her. She pulls away with a throaty laugh and glistening dark eyes, two things that Arizona, no matter what the situation may be, could never resist.

"I know, but Nesiah's just a baby," Callie states the obvious with a heavy sigh, clearly distraught by the sound of her daughter wailing in the nursery. Arizona nods understandingly with a sad pout, continuously draping her nails up and down her arched back, listening to the older woman purr above her.

"But I'm your baby too," pouts Arizona and Callie whines with a hard roll of her eyes, she can't believe they are _still_ arguing about this.

"Arizonnnnnnnnnnnnna," Callie whines with a groan and Arizona can't help but smile at her. For as much as she wants to be with her, she knows that there is nothing more beautiful than the mother instincts that kick in when Callie hears her baby, _their_ baby crying. And she knows that, no matter what she is wearing, or how long it has been since they have been together, Calliope will always drop everything for that four month old angel.

"Fine. Go. Go. Once again, I am pushed aside for another cute girl with blue eyes. Don't think that I am not keeping mark of these days. But that is okay, Torres, because I know just the way that you can make up for it when you settle the tiny human down in there," Arizona smiles a teasing grin and Callie smiles lovingly down at her. She places a quick kiss upon her lips before she descends from atop of her, quickly standing up right and making her way toward the door.

"You are the best!" She grins back at her and Arizona only smiles.

"Tell me something I don't know!" She laughs after her before Calliope disappears out the door.

* * *

It has been nearly fifteen minutes since Callie left to attend to baby Nesiah, fifteen minutes of hushed cries from the baby monitor that's volume has now been lowered, fifteen minutes of her snuggling down in the bed and finding the most comfortable position on her pillow and creating the most perfect cocoon under the blankets. Fifteen minutes of allowing herself to drift away, to allow her mind to fall silent of the constant racing thoughts of her patients and her daughter and her wife. She allows herself and the room around her to fall silent, only the quiet hum of the heater now radiating beside of her, breaths eased and slow. She's falling so peacefully, falling, falling, falling...

"ARIZONA!" The shriek of Callie's panicked voice crashes her viciously back to earth, her heart racing hard in her chest, her breath altering for a moment. Glancing in the doorway, she finds Callie standing there, clutching tightly to the crying infant in her arms, the look of fear written upon her beautiful face, her eyes widened with glistening tears. She swallows hard the lump in her throat, tasting the fear upon her tongue as she notices the scene in front of her.

"Callie, what's wrong?" Arizona asks, laboring to catch her breath as she brushes the sleepy blond curls away from her face. She forces her body upward, stretching momentarily as the bones in her body crack at the movement and the bitter winter air, the wrinkling blankets descend in a scattering mess around her petite waist as she carefully eyes the scene in front of her... Callie shifts her weight nervously, settling Nesiah from one side of her hip to the other as she runs her fingers across her blond curls.

"I can't get her to stop crying. I have tried everything. I've changed her clothes a-and tried feeding her a-and singing to her but she just.. _won't_ stop. She's sweating.. I think she may be running a fever and I just... she won't stop crying and I don't... Arizona... I don't know what to do. What if she is sick? What if I did something wrong? What if..." Callie wails in an almost panic before Arizona stands, reaching for the wailing infant that now is restless in the raven haired beauty's arms. Nesiah gently slides into her Mama's arms with a pouting sniffle, the tears still slipping down her chubby cheeks as she continues to pucker at something neither of the women quite understand.

"Hey baby, what is wrong? Why so upset, Mini Me? Huh? What is bothering my baby?" Arizona asks in a baby voice, carefully swaying back and forth, trying to sooth the wailing child. Her heart breaks a little deeper in her chest, she hates the sound of a baby crying, especially when it is her own. She runs her fingers through Nesiah's soft curls, noticing the sweat that now drenches them and she nods with a solemn face.

"Arizona, what's wrong?" Callie questions, taking a careful step toward her wife who cradles the baby. Arizona wrinkles her brow in complacent, her eyes scanning the baby, checking for all the signs of sickness or an illness or anything else that may be harming the baby to create such a reaction in her.

"Well she is definitely running a fever. But I don't think she has a cold, she isn't flush and she doesn't sound congested," Arizona diagnoses, squinting her eyes carefully as she continues her exploration of the child. Callie winces at the constant wailing that now seems to take on an octave all of it's own.

"I don't know what could be wrong. She was fine all day. I mean, she hasn't been eating all that much lately b-but I thought that she was just going through one of those phases, that maybe she was growing or something. She's been sensitive and grouchy all day but I just thought she was sleepy but when I tried to put her down for her nap, she fought it so hard and was restless but you know Nesiah, she is always afraid she'll miss something when she's asleep. I don't... what if I did something wrong? What if I broke her?" Callie exclaims in a panic and Arizona laughs with a smile, sitting down on the bed as she positions Nesiah in front of her, allowing her to stand on the inner part of her thighs.

"Would you relax? You didn't break her. You can't break a baby. Nesiah is four months old, which means..." Arizona trails off as she opens Nesiah's mouth, glancing at the bottom gum before a wide grin appears on her face, "which means that your daughter is in the process of cutting her bottom teeth."

"But should she be crying that hard? She sounds like we are killing her," Callie sighs, sympathetically gazing at their sniffling daughter who now seems to be at ease with her Mama's finger gently rubbing her gums.

"A sharp bone is erupting through her tiny baby tissue, something is forming in her mouth and she has no idea what it is, you would be crying like that too. The fever, the irritability, the trouble eating and sleeping, it is all normal signs of teething, it's normal. She is normal. Perfectly normal. You can breathe now, Callie," Arizona teases with a laugh, carefully massaging Nesiah's gum with her finger as the drool dances around her knuckle.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Callie offers with pleading eyes, placing a soft kiss upon Nesiah's blond curls. Nodding, Arizona looks up at her wife, smiling as she notices the discomfort that she is in seeing their daughter in pain; she had been right that day, she smiles, Calliope is an _amazing_ mom.

"You can put one of her teething rings in the refrigerator if you want. It will provide her a little bit of relief, control the drooling and give me my finger back. I'll give her some baby Motrin to control the fever. She'll be okay, I promise," Arizona places a kiss upon Callie's lips as she stands.

"Come on, kid. Let's get rid of that nasty fever, hm? Looks like it is going to be Goodbye Baby Food and Hello Meat and Potatoes for you, young lady. You can now eat the good stuff that your Mommy makes. Like the lasagna, your Mama thinks it is to die for. Well, maybe not really _die_. Die is a strong word. Maybe it is to live for? No that just sounds stupid. It is to... be ecstatic about? No. You get the picture right? Your Mommy is a great cook. I can't wait for you to try her foods! And cake. You have to try the cake! Wait, what am I talking about? You don't even have teeth yet, you just have a tiny baby tooth trying to form and right now, food is the least of your worries. Right now all you care about is sleeping, which you could probably do if I would shut up and give you the baby Motrin. Oh, your Mama is silly, huh?" Arizona coos, kissing Nesiah's forehead before she heads into the bathroom to descend on an adventure of the medicine cabinet, the baby rubbing her eyes with her chubby fist every step of the way.

* * *

A teething ring in the refrigerator for thirteen minutes should be cool enough to provide immediate relief to a teething infant, right? Callie contemplates just this as she bounces up the stairs, the purple teething ring nestled in her hand, her fingers slowly growing cold wrapped around the object. Yawning, she hates the way that she panicked over Nesiah's wails, the way that her heart practically stopped beating in her chest when she noticed that she was running a fever, the way that her palms grew sweaty and she nearly forgot how to breathe when she thought that for a second, there could be something wrong with her baby.

Everyone says it makes you a good parent; when you want more for your child than for yourself, when you worry about their health and their improvements every day instead of your own but Calliope likes to think it is a little more than just being a _good_ parent. It is being a _parent_. She remembers the struggle getting pregnant, the many failed IVF attempts and then the spotty bleeding during the second trimester that sent her to the hospital in a praying worry at two am; no, she grinds her teeth hard as she shakes her head, she isn't going to let anything take her baby away from her now.

She opens the door to their bedroom with a yawn, careful to not drop the purple icicle and instantly her heart warms at the sight in front of her. Laying on the bed is Arizona with Nesiah snuggled on her chest, safe and content with the finger providing relief from the sharp, sticking pain, both of them fast asleep. Her heart melts at the scene, at Arizona's hand that has managed to work under Nesiah's onesie in attempts to sooth her, at the blond curls of both of the girls, at the amount of love that radiates from their bodies woven together in peaceful bliss.

With a warm smile, Calliope tip-toes across the room, slipping in the bed with her two loves, laying the purple teething ring on the nightstand. Gently her fingers slip through her baby's curls as she smiles up at Arizona who snores softly beside of her, finally giving into that exhaustion. Sometimes she wonders how it happened, how she became so lucky, so blessed to have such two beautiful souls in her life; two people who want to spend the rest of their lives with her.

"My miracles from God," Callie smiles, placing a kiss upon Nesiah's head and one upon Arizona's nose before she snuggles down, resting her head on the blond's shoulder, raking her their baby's spine. She breathes it in, the love, the happiness and she cannot ask for anything better than this. Than this moment here with her two miracles from God.

* * *

Reviews are nice. :)


End file.
